God’s wide plans
Tasmanian Anglican has posted online audio files from CMS Summerview 2009 held at Port Sorell in January. Ajith Fernando, Director of Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka, and Simon Manchester, gave the main talks.
(Photo: Ajith Fernando, courtesy Tasmanian Anglican.)
Never let the gospel get smaller
“Here is a simple exhortation that I have been trying to implement in our family: Seek to see and feel the gospel as bigger as years go by rather than smaller. …”
– John Piper has encouraging advice – at Desiring God.
Latest 9Marks eJournal: Advice for young pastors
The latest 9Marks eJournal has been released – with a focus on help for ministers who are new to a church. Topics include:
Is this a hill worth dying on? – Matt Schmucker
What I can and cannot live with as a Pastor – Mark Dever
Love the church more than its health – Jonathan Leeman
Should Pastors change anything in the first year? – Phillip Jensen
Worth downloading – from 9Marks (592kb – pdf direct link).
Tim Keller in London: videos
Tim Keller recently spoke at the Newfrontiers Conference in London. Video of his three talks is now available on Vimeo. (h/t Adrian Warnock.)
1. Preaching the Gospel – 77 minutes.
2. The City – 65 minutes.
3. Cultural Transformation – 52 minutes.
Charges to a young Minister
In January, Dick Lucas preached at the institution of Robin Sydserff at St Catherine’s Argyle in the Church of Scotland. He preached on 2 Timothy 2:1-7.
Hear Dick’s sermon – it is a 7MB mp3 file (direct link) and runs for 28 minutes.
h/t Faith by Hearing. (Photo: St.Catharine’s Argyle.)
Christianity and the Tolerance of Liberalism
In three talks Lee Gatiss looks at the crisis which hit American Presbyterianism in the 1920s and 30s. The conservative hero of that struggle was J. Gresham Machen, whose Christianity and Liberalism remains a classic.
What does Machen’s battle with liberalism have to teach us today in a church still ravaged by liberalism and those who tolerate it?
– Hear the talks at The Theologian. See also an extract “When a Theological College Goes Wrong”, from Lee’s book on the topic.
(Image of J. Gresham Machen: The Theologian.)
Using the Online ESV to Listen
“As long as we are drawing your attention to the ESV Study Bible Online, let me tell you one of the uses I make of it that you might not think of. …”
– John Piper shares a helpful idea in his blog.
An Anglican Prayer Book (2008) reviewed
“For evangelicals in the Church of England who are not familiar with the history of The Episcopal Church, the more conservative of the denomination’s evangelicals succeeded from the church in the 1870s due to the growth and increased influence of Tractarianism in the church and the incipient Catholic doctrines of the 1789 Book of Common Prayer. Those who remained in The Episcopal Church became Broad Church liberals. By 1900 evangelicalism had disappeared from The Episcopal Church. Anglo-Catholicism and Broad Church liberalism became the dominant theological streams in The Episcopal Church. …”
– Robin G. Jordan, who runs the blog Anglicans Ablaze, critiques and outlines the history of An Anglican Prayer Book (2008) prepared for the AMiA.
From the current issue of Cross†Way – published by Church Society. A valuable insight into the situation in the USA. Download the article as a PDF file (direct link).
The 1928 Prayer Book
Why are we running an article on the 1928 Prayer Book now? A new ‘orthodox’ province has been established in North America (only a day ago as I write). It has set out in a provisional constitution its doctrinal position but has not adopted any formal liturgies. The Jerusalem Declaration from GAFCON affirms the 1662 Book of Common Prayer but in the United States in particular the traditional prayer book before the 1970s was their 1928 book. That book is not the same as the English 1928 book, a matter that has caused considerable confusion in some discussions, but nevertheless it is also not the 1662 book. …
– David Phillips, General Secretary of Church Society, writes in the current issue of Cross†Way and the article is available as a PDF file (direct link).
Free online access to the ESV Study Bible (for a month)
Here’s a press release from Crossway:
“Crossway is pleased to make the ESV Online Study Bible available free—for anyone and everyone—for a limited time beginning today, March 2, 2009. Until now, the ESV Online Study Bible has been available exclusively to those who have purchased the print edition.”
– Details at the ESVSB Blog.
Dever interviews Carson on Books
Last December, 9 Marks published online the first part of an interview by Mark Dever with Don Carson.
In the second part of the interview, just published, focusses on some of the books Don has written. It runs for 56 minutes and is available here at 9Marks.
Carl Jung and the Gnostic Reconciliation of Gender Opposites
Ed Hird, Rector of St. Simon’s Church in North Vancouver (ANiC), gave this address at the CWiPPTHINK 09 conference in San Diego earlier this month. –
“Leanne Payne wrote an unforgettable book in 1995 entitled ‘Crisis in Masculinity’. We live in an age where equality is equated with sameness, where men and women are deeply confused about their gender identity, about what really is authentic male and authentic female. I believe that this Gnostic Reconciliation of Gender Opposites, this gender-blending about authentic maleness and femaleness, is the direct result of our culture’s embracing of the Jungian agenda. …”
– Read Ed’s talk (PDF file – direct link) at the St. Simon’s website.
Biblical requirements for Presbyters
“In writing to both Timothy and Titus the Apostle Paul sets out qualifications and standards expected of those to be presbyters. …
What is immediately striking from the person described by Paul in both places is the almost total lack of ability. Only two abilities are required, and these are not accidental. …”
– Church Society has published online their booklet on what ought to be expected of Christian leaders.
The Church and Evangelism
The audio recording of Mark Dever’s talk on “The Church and Evangelism” at the Desiring God 2009 Conference for Pastors is now available.
Relevant for Connect09? You bet. Very helpful and encouraging.
Get the 55 minute 16MB audio file from Desiring God. (Update: All of the audio and video from the conference is now available.)
Latest 9Marks eJournal
The latest issue of the 9Marks eJournal is now online. As always, stimulating reading.
At 9Marks – and as a PDF file (direct link).
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…